Want to land a UI/UX design job?

Here’s how to build your portfolio

Think Company Follow
Aug 12 · 7 min read

You’re here because you want to use your design chops and
knack for creative problem solving to take your career to the
next level, right? UI/UX is a quickly-growing field that offers
many opportunities, particularly in metro areas — though
remote positions are on the rise, too. With a strong UI/UX
design portfolio, you can acquire a job in the industry.
Before diving into specifics, let’s make sure we’re all on the
same page about terms. “UI” stands for User Interface Design,
and largely refers to the design decisions made that impact
what a person sees and interacts with on a digital screen,
whether that’s a phone, tablet, or computer, through an
application or a website. UX stands for User Experience Design,
and has more to do with the overall experience (positive,
negative, or in between) of the person’s interaction with the
application or website. For a more in-depth explanation about
these terms, here’s a thorough explanation of the acronyms.

Whenever someone asks me, “Should I get into UI/UX?” my

answer is always a resounding “yes!” Combining the psychology
of design with a purposeful and appealing aesthetic experience
is powerful and holistic, a truly challenging and rewarding
experience for a designer. UI/UX design not only considers
what someone sees, but also takes into account research, a
user’s experience, and criteria to evaluate the success of a
design.

UI/UX Design has become so popular that there are now

Masters degrees available in the field. Whether you choose to
get a formal education, join a bootcamp, or dive into online
training and teach yourself for a fraction of the cost, there are
some critical components you need in your online portfolio to
demonstrate your skills in order to get a job.

THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF AN

OUTSTANDING UI/UX DESIGN PORTFOLIO
Gone are the days when throwing up a handful of static images
on your personal website or Dribbble account served as a
sufficient portfolio. Because UI/UX design is now so dependent
on research and problem solving, it’s crucial to show the
thought process behind your final designs. This includes more
detailed components such as:

1. Evidence and outcome of research

2. Case studies

3. Personas or “Jobs to be Done” describing user needs

4. Visual insight about how you organized your thoughts (think

sticky note walls)

5. Notes

6. User journey maps

7. Hand-drawn sketches

8. Wireframes

9. Higher-fidelity designs representing the culmination of this

process

From start to finish, each portfolio piece should tell a story.

Because UX design is about solving a problem, it helps to state
the original design problem or challenge, then outline the steps
you took to solve that problem.

INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

To get started, talk about the goals of the project you worked
on and what your role was in contributing to the solution. This
is also the chance to talk about anything that may have been
omitted from your portfolio piece due to confidentiality
restrictions. You can also mention whether the project was
freelance, part of a full-time job and a team, or was self-
directed as an independent study.

If you want to dive into it, you can mention more conceptual
aspects of the project like how you want the user to feel while
using your design.

USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH AND FINDINGS

Depending on the roles you’re looking at, you may want to
demonstrate your research skills. A lot of contemporary roles
are looking for a well-rounded designer who can help
understand and contribute to the why — not just the how — of
a design.

For the raw research, you can describe how you approached
collecting data, who you talked to and how (phone, email,
survey, in-person, etc.), and how you took notes.

Dive deep into the user’s journey and experience from

beginning to end with the product design in question. Take it a
step further and make your user journey map beautiful using
your visual design skills, but make sure to keep it content-
driven by highlighting pain points or processes that are
currently working.

In this stage, you want to cover at least one persona of who will
be using your app or design. This will help outline the goals of
each type of user, what their level of comfort is with technology,
and any unique traits they may have.

It might help to have a discovery or findings section in your

case study to help illustrate how you transformed research
findings into wireframes and design decisions.

PROTOTYPING, UI DESIGN, AND MOCKUPS

At this point in your case study and project story, you can start
to show your solution visually. Sketches, wireframes, mockups,
and prototypes will do just that.

What is the difference between these visual components?

Sketches are quick hand-drawn examples of a solution. They

can help illustrate a solution without diving into the weeds of
having the visuals be pixel-perfect. They can also help identify
what screens are needed at each stage of the user journey or
which screens need to be fleshed out into higher level fidelity
designs.
 Jenn Palandro, Sketches

Wireframes are the next level of sketches. They are typically

drawn on a computer and can be high or low fidelity. Overall
they use simple shapes to represent what type of content and
interactive components will go where.
 Jillian M. P erling, Lerna Wireframes

Mockups introduce color, branding, typography, and imagery

to wireframes. If your skills are heavier on User Experience and
Research, your portfolio may not include more “finished”
product design like this.

Yujean Park, Tailwind Mockups

Prototypes can happen at varying levels of wireframes and

mockups. The purpose of a prototype is to show how the user
interacts with the app through various buttons, links, icons, and
more. A prototype can be in the form of a simple paper
demonstration (think scissors and tape) or through an
interactive demonstration tool like Invision.
 Simon Pan and Scott Silverman, Uber

FANTASTIC EXAMPLES OF THOROUGH UI/UX

PORTFOLIOS
Perusing effective and fleshed-out UI/UX portfolios is a great
way to get a list of ideas for your own portfolio.

Simon Pan did work for Uber and outlined how he conducted
research in the field. He gathered his insights and shared his
discoveries, shared deeper insights, and then worked towards
identifying the true problem and therefore a true, workable
solution. He shared iterations of designs, whiteboard photos,
journey maps, screen progressions, design principles and how
they contribute to solving the problem, and more. It’s no
wonder that Simon’s detailed case study is being shared virally
this year.

Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to do UI/UX work

for household-name companies.

Jillian Pfifferling has a sleek portfolio of UX design work where

she showcases five projects from start to finish. Her piece on
Lerna, an e-learning startup, is a tight example of a project
including an overview, business and project goals, role,
duration, audience, ideation (including hand-drawn sketches),
user flows, wireframes, brand identity, and the final prototype.
Each of her projects includes a clever “reflection” section which
allows her to share personal insights and skills developed
during the project.

Yujean Park, a local UXer who works at Philadelphia’s Linode,

beautifully demonstrates a hackathon project for Tailwind. She
explains the project challenge, the discovery, and the
definition/goals of the project. She specifically contributed a
user flow to help outline the app’s architecture and user
journey, and also her wireframes based off of that flow. During
the design phase, she explains and reflects on constraints and
hiccups the team encountered.

Lizzie Willet is a multi-talented designer and front-end

developer. Her portfolio is highly visual: it doesn’t include much
backstory for each of her projects. However, Lizzie is careful to
include succinct explanations of each phase of her design,
especially for Bandana Studio, a design and development studio
that offers services for creative entrepreneurs.
OTHER NECESSARY UI/UX PORTFOLIO
COMPONENTS
As a designer seeking a new job, it’s important to think about
your online portfolio from the employer’s perspective. The
employer will want to know more about who you are as an
individual and how to get in touch with you.

ABOUT PAGE
If you don’t like the idea of putting yourself out there, keep in
mind that sharing a bit about your personality will help an
employer decide if you would be a good match for their
company. You don’t have to get extremely personal, but sharing
a bit about your professional background and some hobbies
may help you stand out from the crowd.

RESUME
Include your resume! A link to your LinkedIn profile can suffice,
but having a downloadable PDF of your resume on your
portfolio website will help contribute to your general
professionalism.

If you’re worried your professional experience is too thin to

advertise in trying to get a job in UI/UX, get creative in thinking
about how your past roles could contribute to a successful
career in user experience and interface design.

Your resume is also a great place to show a list of your technical

skills (specific apps like Sketch, Invision, Adobe programs, etc.),
as well as research skills like journey mapping, conducting
contextual interviews, and more.
CONTACT
Finally, a simple contact form will make you seem more
approachable than if you just provide an email address or a link
to your social media accounts.

Originally posted on the Think Blog

UX UI Portfolio Design Job Search

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